Chickenley chicken crosses the road.. To run away from the council!

Alex Miller

Chickenley residents up in the early hours of this morning (Thursday) were treated to a strange sight when Kirklees Council Officers chased after a noisy cockerel.

Kirklees Council Pollution and Noise Control team had received complaints about noise from a cockerel that has been surviving, alone, within an abandoned property in Chickenley. The naughty cockerel has been loose in the garden for some months and had been wandering into various backyards in the area and “delighting” residents with its chorus from 4.30am every day.

Officers caught the cockerel this morning.

Although the RSPCA has found a place for it to be re-homed, officers had been unable to locate and then catch the bird.

A plan was hatched to find the bird when it was most active – early morning, but as RSPCA, officers cannot work that early, the council’s PNC Officers stepped in. The borrowed a net and a box from the RSPCA and the wild-cockerel chase began.

Dion Gervin and Lola Stewart arrived on the scene and the cockerel was found in the rear garden of the abandoned property. The back garden was full of abandoned rubbish so they couldn’t safely enter it to catch the cockerel there.

With more hope than optimism, they went back to the van to fetch the net and box. As they came back Lola spotted the cockerel's tail above a bush in the front garden (where they’d planted seed the day before) and signalled this to Dion.

Very quietly, Dion crept through the long grasses and approached it with a net. At the last minute the cockerel heard him but luckily, instead of retreating to the rear garden, it flew over the front wall and onto the green.

Dion and Lola raced after it and flanked it on the green. Lola stopped running and walked around it to try and drive it back to Dion.

Suddenly, it started sprinting! However, Dion was hot on its tail, net flailing up and down, and chased it right up a back alleyway.

Dion’s training in Gaelic Football was abundantly apparent and the last thing Lola saw and heard was the cockerel careering off with loud squawks and Dion after it like Usain Bolt with a big net.

Once she finally caught up with him, she saw that Dion had caught it in his net. Ready to be re-homed by the RSPCA at a rescue farm, The Chuckery.

“Little Dion” as he is now known to PNC will have a nice life there and be able to crow to his heart’s content. And Chickenley residents can now sleep in peace.

One grateful resident came out to see what was going on, and was delighted to see her noisy neighbour had been caught.

All in a day’s work for Kirklees Council Pollution and Noise Control and… perhaps a feather in their cap.